Fade
by Amethystia
Summary: Ginny's always been belittled, and her latest arguement with Ron is the last straw. But all of her distress brings back someone from her very first year at Hogwarts: Riddle. How? What will happen? Everything is not as it seems; surprise ending (have to lo


~A/N: '*' mark emphasized words; '' and '' mark off lyrics. Kind of like a quotation concept.  
~Summary: Ginny's always been belittled, and her latest arguement with Ron is the last straw. But all of her distress brings back someone from her very first year at Hogwarts: Riddle. How? What will happen? Everything is not as it seems; surprise ending (have to love that irony). Song fic to "Fade" by Staind.  
~Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling is goddess of all that is Harry Potter. I just enjoy messing around with her characters' lives. No profit, just for my amusement. Forgive me. Staind owns the song "Fade," which rocks, I might add.  
~PG for angst and just to be on the safe side; I know how some people are wusses and/or get picky about ratings. ~_^  
  
~Fade~  
By: Amethystia  
  
"I don't need you to tell me what to do!" Ginny spat in fury as Ron wheeled around to retort. "I'm old enough to take care of myself!"  
  
"I'm your brother, Ginny. Your *older* brother, I might add. If I say playing Quidditch with us is too dangerous, then it is. Plain and simple!" Ron spat back, turning just as red on his ears as Ginny was on her cheeks.  
  
"Only older by a year! Big DAMN deal. Besides, Hermione's playing!" Ginny said, her face falling a bit as her choice of words.  
  
"What'd you say? If mum heard you say that...," Ron began but was abruptly stopped by boisterous retaliation.  
  
"OH, FOR ONCE JUST SHUT UP! I'M NOT IMCOMPETANT OR A LOWER LIFE-FORM, SO STOP BLOODY TREATING ME LIKE ONE!" Ginny yelped in pure rage; it seemed as if any moment she might pull out her wand. She stormed off into The Burrow, leaving Ron, Harry, Hermione, and the rest of her brothers in a shocked daze.  
  
Ron opened his mouth to say, 'Well, you *are* a girl,' but Harry cut him off, "Just let her go. You've done enough damage for one evening, I think. Maybe even a lifetime."  
  
"So just take HER side," Ron said, gesturing to a Ginny who was no longer in sight.  
  
Harry rolled his eyes, clearly showing his exasperation. "Please," he said between a sigh, "let's just play."  
  
Ah, nothing like a normal summer day at The Burrow. Well, as normal as wizarding life was with so many people in one house. Mrs. Weasley never seemed to mind, though. But she didn't notice a very upset Ginny stomp upstairs to her room where she hurled herself onto her bed, angry and stinging tears springing forth as if someone turned on a faucet in her head.  
  
It was the same way everyday: *little* Ginny Weasley, pushed aside, out-shined, underminded, underestimated, scrutinized, belittled, and most of all, alone. So very alone. She was sick and tired of it all.  
  
She lay there limply on her bed, crumpled and succumbed to the wave of pain and tears coursing through her. Her face was buried in her pillow as she lay face down, as if she meant to suffocate her thoughts, her pain, as well as herself.  
  
I try to breathe   
Memories overtaking me   
I try to face them but   
The thought is too much to conceive  
  
"Why? What'd I do to deserve this, besides be born? And that wasn't even my fault! They act like I can't think for myself; I can't even breathe without them trying to hold my hand. GRR!" Ginny ranted muffledly into her pillow, which was now soaked with her crystal tears. She cried until she fell asleep.  
  
  
  
When she awoke, it was dark out; glancing at her magical clock, she could see that all the hands were pointing to a caption that said 'sleeping' except for the hand with her name on it.  
  
"What?" she said, emmitting a groan. "I can't believe I slept through dinner or the rest of the day, for that matter." Then she remembered how *no one even noticed,* but she fought the urge to cry as she rolled out of bed to light a few candles in her room.  
  
As she did so, the temperature seemed to drop considerably. "Brr," Ginny murmurred softly, voicing her acknowledgement of the chill. But nothing could have prepared her for what happened next.  
  
"Ginny...," a soft, lulling male voice called.  
  
I only know that I can change   
Everything else just stays the same   
So now I step out of the darkness   
That my life became 'cause...  
  
Ginny spun around, her eyes darting, searching, grasping, surveying for the owner of the voice. To no avail.  
  
"Who's--who's there?" she timidly called out, her voice quivering in surprise. That voice...she'd heard it before but from where? It was not that of her brothers definitely. It was a cold, older voice; it almost seemed as if it could've been the cause of the temperature drop itself.  
  
"Oh, Ginny..." the voice taunted again, causing Ginny to back into a wall.  
  
"Who and where are you?!" demanded Ginny, a little more confidence in her tone.  
  
Silence. Dead silence settled in the room, again. She could now hear snores from one of her brothers' rooms.  
  
That silence was disrrupted once more. "I'm in your head," the man hissed, "won't you let me come out? You've stuff my memory away for so, *so* long. I can help you."  
  
Ginny's face twisted with the horror of realization. Had Riddle never left her? She tried to loop her tongue around something coherent, "T--Tom? Is that you?" she called out, her voice unusaully high-pitched, shaking like a frightened rabbit.  
  
"Yes," the voice answered with a tinge of amusement that she remembered. "Let me help you; come to me."  
  
Naturally, she would've refused on the spot. But she felt herself drift into an ignorant bliss, like a haze was rolling through her mind; the Imperius curse. She could hear the commands of, "Come to me, come on, my flame." And come she did as a man appeared in her room and disapparated with her.  
  
(A/N: these lyrics would be directed to her family...)  
I just needed someone to talk to   
You were just too busy with yourself   
You were never there for me   
To express how I felt   
I just stuffed it down   
Now I'm older and I feel like   
I could let some of this anger fade   
But it seems the surface I am scratching   
Is the bed I made  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The night burned on, and eventually dawn arrived. Life at The Burrow went about its usual business, no one noticing one of their number was missing directly. Finally, when Ginny hadn't come down a few hours after breakfast, the trio of Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way up the stairs to see what was keeping her.  
  
"Gin," Ron tapped on her door lightly, "it's Ron. Look, if you're still mad at me, I'm sorry." He listened for an answer that never came.  
  
"Harry and I are here, too, Ginny," Hermione said, trying to coax a response from the empty room. "C'mon, you can't hibernate in there."  
  
By this time, Ron was getting a bit impatient, "That's it, Ginny. If you don't open up, I'm just coming in."  
  
Fred, who was passing by with George, said, "That'd be enough for me to open my door alright," while George and he sniggered.  
  
Ron just casted them a dirty look and continued. "That's it, I'm opening it." He did indeed open it; revealing a very empty, desolate, and *cold* room. The room almost felt like death itself had moved in.  
  
"Ginny?!" the three of them called out, searching the room frantically. Of course, they didn't find her. But as Harry entered the room, his scar started seering with pain, causing him to yield ground-ward, yelping with anguish.  
  
"You...you don't think...?" Hermione stuttered.  
  
Ron and Hermione drug Harry out of the room, and hurried downstairs, telling Mrs. Weasley about their discovery.  
  
So where were you   
When all this I was going through   
You never took the time to ask me   
Just what you could do  
  
  
Some hours later, the house was swarming with Ministry members and hit wizards. A very hysterical Mrs. Weasley was being calmed by an equally disshelved Mr. Weasley, clinging to each other for support.  
  
Meanwhile, the Weasley offspring, Harry, and Hermione just sat around in a daze, wondering how this happened right under their noses. They didn't even hear a thing, no one stopped to check, not even when she was up in her room for so long. They were all kicking themselves at this.  
  
"We can't just sit around," Harry said finally, glancing from face to face. "We know Voldemort is behind this, you saw what happened when I entered that room."  
  
"Just shut up, Harry!" Ron barked suddenly. "I don't want to think about what that freak wants her for."  
  
"But Ron, Harry's right; we've got to face up to that," Hermione said before adding, "However, I don't think *we* should go running around after Voldemort by ourselves..."  
  
"I am *not* going to sit around while he runs a muck, especially with Ginny, and neither should any of you!" Harry exclaimed, standing up and jetting up the stairs, hestitantly standing outside of the door to Ginny's room.  
  
Ron and Hermione soon trudged up after him, giving him the 'Do you think we'd let you go in alone?' look. He smiled at the gesture and reached for the door knob, turning it ever so slowly, until it was open...  
  
I only know that I can change   
Everything else just stays the same   
So now I step out of the darkness   
That my life became 'cause...  
  
The minute Harry walked in, he found himself on his knees in pain, again. Her room wreaked of Voldemort's vibes. At any moment his head was going to explode; he just knew it. Ron and Hermione watched on in horror, trying to calm him or find something, using various charms. But then suddenly, the pain fizzled away, just as soon as it had came, leaving the burning question: what next?  
  
They didn't have to wait long for the answer, though. Soon, a circle made of bright light opened through the floor; Ginny's voice could be heard, laughing with someone about Quidditch bloopers. The three friends stared at each other.  
  
"You know this is a trap...right?" Ron said as he gulped down breaths.  
  
Harry and Hermione merely nodded their replies.  
  
"But we don't have a choice, do we?" Harry asked but didn't wait for a reply.  
  
He stepped forward, the other two close behind, and delved into the light.  
  
  
  
The next thing the three of them knew, they were standing in embounding darkness on all sides of them...until a blinding light was thrown on, revealing hundreds of Death Eaters, the trio in the middle of them. Also in the middle was a man, easily recognized as Voldemort, with Ginny.  
  
"Ginny!" Ron called out, stepping forward but easily thinking about what he was doing before daring to go on. "Let her go!" he roared, his attempt at being noble.  
  
"I don't think she wants to go," Voldemort answered with a high cackling laugh, "do you, my flame?"  
  
Ginny dazily shook her head 'no.'  
  
"Now, why don't you show them the new trick you've learned? Ready?" Voldemort said to Ginny, as if he were speaking to a pet.  
  
Ginny raised her wand obediently, and opened her mouth, monotonely saying, "Avada Kedavra..."  
  
I just needed someone to talk to   
You were just too busy with yourself   
You were never there for me   
To express how I felt   
I just stuffed it down   
Now I'm older and I feel like   
I could let some of this anger fade   
But it seems the surface I am scratching   
Is the bed I made  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Ron sat up in his bed, sweat dripping from all parts of his body. He looked over; Harry was sleeping in his sleeping bag.  
  
"A dream...it was all a dream!" Ron breathed, reality setting in. "Everything after the arguement...a dream," he added, clutching his chest and catching his breath. 'GINNY!' he thought instantly.  
  
He tore out of his room, as if someone told him his bed had been infested with spiders. He nearly kicked open the door to Ginny's room, but that surprisingly didn't wake her up. He sprinted over to her bed, feeling around to make sure she was there; he could feel her soft hair and her little nose, but he *had* to be sure.  
  
"Ginny! Ginny!" Ron said hugging her before she even opened her eyes. "You're not a Death Eater! Thank Merlin!!"  
  
"Wh--huh?!" Ginny said in groggy drawl. "Did Fred and George slip you some of their 'experimental' candy or something?" she asked, still half-asleep.  
  
"No, no. I'm sorry I treated you like that earlier. You can play Quidditch with us anytime, I swear!" Ron continued, babbling away.  
  
"Err..okay, thanks, I think," Ginny said, still quite confused.  
  
An odd but comfortable silence set in as Ron hugged Ginny, still over-whelmed with relief. He finally broke it.  
  
"Don't ever fade away, Gin," Ron said, almost sounding as if he was fighting tears.  
  
"I...I won't," Ginny replied in a sober tone, hugging her brother tightly.  
  
But I never meant to fade away  
I never meant to  
Fade  
Away 


End file.
